Objective: To better understand the relationship between Huntington’s Disease and depression.

Background: Huntington’s Disease (HD) is an uncommon genetic neurodegenerative disorder in the United States that is frequently characterized by significant psychiatric and behavioral comorbidities, including depression. Drawing from a large database of patients hospitalized with HD, the current study provides a preliminary comparison of patients with and without a comorbid diagnosis of depression in terms of key demographic, length of stay (LOS), cost and discharge disposition.

Methods: The National Inpatient Sample database was queried for the period of 2003-2013 for patients discharged with a diagnosis of HD, ICD-9 Code 333.4. HD patients with comorbid depression were identified using Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) criteria. We compared age, LOS, total hospital charges between HD patients with and without depression, as well as association between depression and patient race, sex, and discharge/disposition status.

Results: From 2003-2013, a total of 159,329 HD patient discharges were identified. Analyses revealed that 18.8% of the sample met criteria for depression. Comorbid depression was associated with more advanced age (mean 56.45 years versus 55.14 years, p=0.002), female gender (20.3%versus 17.1%, p<0.001) decreased length of stay (6.36 days versus 8.05 days, p<0.001) and lower total cost of admission ($32,059 versus $37,159 p=0.011). However, HD with comorbid depression was associated with lower rates of being discharged home (28.2% versus 31.7%, p=0.001). Of HD patients with depression, 55.8% were discharged to a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) while only 49.8% of those without depression went to a SNF (p=0.001). [table1]

Conclusions: These results demonstrate that depression is a significant comorbidity in HD patients. Current findings point to race and gender disparities in HD patients diagnosed with depression. The presence of depression also correlated interestingly with decreased length of stay and lower cost to the patient, but with disposition to a higher acuity of care than patients without depression. While more rapidly discharged, these patients may have worse levels of function hence require higher levels of care. Further research is warranted to delineate the true impact of depression on HD patients.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/depression-among-inpatients-with-huntingtons-disease-patient-characteristics-and-outcomes/